An often underused feature of Raiser’s Edge, tables will improve accuracy of data, increase efficiency and help to keep your data clean, "query-able" and "report-able."

Tables for constituent and gift attribute descriptions will prevent typos or differences in entry from one user to another user or even my own entry from one day to another.

Tables will ensure accuracy over keying in attribute descriptions. We all make typos and sometimes they are not caught so then will not pull in queries looking for specific data.

Using the drop down for table entries is a time saver.  It’s quicker to choose ‘Annual Campaign Volunteer” from a drop down than to key it in. Thoughtful naming of your table entries to start with unique letters can make it even faster.  Limit the number of table entries that begin with the same letter.

Are you new to using tables or want to change an attribute text field to a table, go to the Knowledgebase for your “how to.”  It can be a little bit of work to format the new table. Use a query to find like attribute text entries and and use the global feature to populate you new table attributes.

While some table are defaulted such as “States,” others like “City” can

be added to with new entries. Extra: Even the “City” table can be made more efficient by the order of the entries.  Do most of your records come from certain cities?  If that city is ‘Mytown’, use the up arrows to move this name up the table to the top of the cities beginning with “M” so that when you type an “M” in the city field ‘Mytown’ will be the first option that will auto fill. I have put all cities in our region at the top of their alphabetical section.

Accurate clean data will result in accurate data pulls for your query and your reports. Isn’t that one of our goals?